The Open: Justin Rose at peak of his powers ahead of hat-trick bid at Hoylake

You wait all year for a win, then along come three together. Wishful thinking? Not the way Justin Rose is swinging.

Rose arrives at Hoylake today as the new world No3, his highest career ranking. The Scottish Open was added yesterday to the Quicken Loans trophy he claimed a fortnight ago.

Having completed the first back-to-back wins of his career, the hat-trick beckons at The Open. “I’m feeling great. I don’t feel like these wins have taken a lot out of me. Having a scorecard in my hand this week really helped my preparation and helped my game get better,” Rose said.

“I could have been on the range for four days and probably not got to the level with my game that I’m at now because of playing a tournament.”

It was at The Open at Royal Birkdale in 1998 that Rose announced himself to a British audience, chipping in at the last for fourth place as a 17-year-old amateur. And then came the trauma of those 21 consecutive missed cuts.

Rose has all but clothed that statistic in irrelevance, his victory at the US Open last year a measure of his growing status in the game.

By his own admission, the triumph at Merion knocked him temporarily out of his rhythm and out of the winners’ enclosure until his victory in Maryland at the end of last month. And to think Rose went to the turn two over par in his opening round at Royal Aberdeen and closed day one five shots behind Rory McIlroy’s early lead. Thereafter there was only one winner.

Rose said: “I feel like if I compete well, mentally stay sharp and turn up with most of my game, it should be a good week.

“In the past, I’ve always been looking for something extra the week of the majors to try to get myself in contention. Right now I’m not chasing the next level, I beginning to trust my game.”